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New Beek in Indianapolis

My brother is giving me a beehive in a few weeks. I'm new to beekeeping myself, but both grandfathers were beekeepers, so I should be able to turn to my brother and aunts and uncles for advise. I've already looked around the neighborhood and noticed quite a few nectar sources for my bees in addition to my own garden and a school garden we are planning. Has anyone out there had any experience introducing grade school kids to beehives? My two young grandsons live with me and I'm quite sure they will want to show off the hive and I need to know whether or not to just make the area off limits, period.

Re: New Beek in Indianapolis

Welcome Carina! Several schools in Florida have beehives and/or observation hives to teach science. You will need to set some rules, as with everything, like no swatting or visiting without you present. I just came from a bee workshop in Chipley, Washington County, Florida. We brought frames of bees right into the group. You have to really know how to read bee behavior to avoid an incident.

The ISBA has a beginning beekeepers school in February. Highly recommend.

Agree. This is an all-day class that covers all the basics. I believe it will be Feb 9th in Anderson. The HoosierBuzz website Jeff listed above will have more info once it gets closer.

Also, Roger Graham usually schedules a couple beginner's classes during the winter months. Even if you don't take his class, you'll want to become familiar with the Graham's - they supply bees and equipment to many Indiana beekeepers.http://www.grahamsbeeworks.com/

As for the grandkids, I've had a number of young 4-H kids out to see my bees. I have a few extra veils and some old white shirts that I have them wear. As the others have said, there just needs to be some rules about only with adult supervision.